A billionaire heir's new wife allegedly "bullied" a woman who shares her new name, into selling her Instagram handle.
Last month, Katherine Asplundh married Cabot Asplundh, who is part of the Pennsylvania billionaire family, at a reception in Palm Beach, Florida.
The new bride’s in-laws own the Asplundh Tree Expert Co, which is the 109th largest private company in America with a reported revenue of $5.42 billion in 2023, per Forbes.
After the couple tied the knot, the bride - whose former last name was Driscoll - allegedly tried to change her Instagram handle from @katherinedrisc to @katherineasplundh, but the latter username was already taken.
It has been claimed that Katherine contacted the account, which is owned by a woman named Kate, to ask if she could "buy" the rights to their username despite it being a violation of the social media platform's terms of service.
The account owner declined the new billionaire wife's alleged payment request, and said that she was worried that selling the username would get her "banned from Instagram".
This allegedly prompted Katherine to launch a tirade of entitled messages.
Read the alleged conversation below:According to screenshots of the conversation posted to the NYCInfluencesnark sub-Reddit, Katherine claimed that she had previously purchased Instagram usernames.
“I purchased my username in the past actually that’s not true. Celebrities do it all the time that’s how they all have their handles as their full names,” she responded.
"So weird I didn’t know there was another Asplundh’s family out there. There no Katherine asplundh in our family,” she added.
She then allegedly added: "I see that you're not that active on here but started Instagram in 2018 but changed your username three times? Is there any way I can get you to change your username one more time?"
The owner told the newlywed that the account was a “finsta” - a term that refers to a "fake" or secondary account that users create to share content just with close friends and family.
The conversation then turned sour, with an irritated Driscoll Asplundh seemingly questioning Kate's identity. “I actually don’t believe that your name is Katherine Asplundh who would make their finsta their actual name?" she said.
"I reported you to Instagram and they’re actually able to tell me your real name I really hope I don’t know you because that’s gonna be really embarrassing for you," she shared, adding that her then-fiance had also reported Kate.
She then continued to question the legitimacy of the woman's name, noting that her husband's family are the only Asplundhs in the US.
The account owner confirmed that she is not American, to which Katherine responded: "Do you have proof that this is your name? Would love to see that."
Kate then tells Katherine that if she had been polite about the situation then she would have considered giving her the account name for free. "But you weren't. I reported you for asking me to sell my account and another for harassing me. Have a good day," she fired back at the influencer.
Many people on the platform shared their thoughts on the situation, and have jumped to Kate’s defense.
One user slammed: "What the f*** is wrong with people lmao please never give up your username, even if your finsta dies."
Another criticized: "Why is she harassing ppl on insta instead of enjoying wedding bliss," while a third commented: "She only has like 11k followers why is she acting like she’s a celebrity."
Kate told the Philadelphia Inquirer that she "was open to giving her my username," adding: "I just didn’t want to sell it because that would get me banned. After I replied to her, her messages came off snarky so I told myself, 'OK, this isn’t worth it'."
As of this writing, Kate and Asplundh’s respective Instagram handles remain unchanged.
